> When I first met Yoshizawa at his house in the early 1980s, he pulled dozens > and dozens of models from boxes, one at a time, and only let me see them for > a few seconds each. When I asked if he could leave them out longer, he said > that he didn’t want me to figure out how to fold them. I doubt that I could > have. The question is whether today we have a right to unfold (even if by > X-ray) the designs of someone who may not have wanted us to do so. Just > because Yoshizawa published instructions to some of his models doesn’t mean > he would have wanted to publish instructions to all of them. It’s akin to > publishing a manuscript or musical score that a writer or composer might not > have wanted to see the light of day, which is why some of those drafts ended > up in the fireplace. I don’t think there’s an obvious answer to this > question, but it’s worth pondering. > > Best, > > Peter Engel >
I agree that it's worth pondering whether Yoshizawa would have approved, and I would argue that he most definitely would have. I'm sure that many of his models did end up in the fireplace. In those cases, he made a choice to destroy them because he didn't want them to live on after him. It's also possible that he may have left a few models lying around the house, that he also was unsatisfied with. Maybe we shouldn't try to analyze those either. But the models we're talking about are the ones that he took very great pains to preserve in such a way that they would last as long as possible. He created them with great care, and wrapped them up and put them in boxes because he wanted them to survive. There can be no other reason. And just as we might want to avoid creating diagrams for models he wished to keep private, we should also avoid allowing the life work of a great artist to perish, when it was something he clearly wished to see preserved. And not just in boxes until they fell apart from decay. What possible reason could any artist have to desire that, having taken such care in the preservation of their works? It's easy to understand why Yoshizawa might not have wanted you to figure out how to fold his models while he was alive. He'd had experiences with people creating models similar to his -- or possibly taken directly from his designs -- and then failing to give him the credit, and he resented that. He wanted the credit for his labors to be reserved to himself alone. And while he must have known that he couldn't possibly diagram all 50,000 models in the time he had left to live, it's likewise easy to understand that he would have wanted to retain the ability to select which of those models he would choose to diagram, given that he couldn't get to them all. So it's easy to understand why he would keep them private while he lived. But now that he's dead, I would find it unfathomable that he would wish his life's work, which he took such pains to preserve, to simply wink out of existence as age or fire ultimately claims these unique and fragile works. Would he really so carefully preserve them, and then desire to keep them utterly unseen and unappreciated after his death, until they rotted away? That doesn't sound realistic at all. Clearly he would still wish to receive credit for each and every model that he created. And I think that as a community, we should ensure that he receives that. But the idea that he regarded these carefully preserved works as things to be thrown away in the trash, makes no sense at all to me. I don't know how it could make sense to anyone. We should X-ray and analyze each of these models, and we should take steps to ensure that Yoshizawa is given full and complete credit for each and every one of them. Be well, Zack -- Zack Brown
